Back on January 7, after being thrashed by Perth Scorchers at Optus Stadium, the finals weren’t even on Brisbane Heat’s radar. They had just two wins from their first eight matches, after all. Less than a month later, Heat have journeyed back to Perth, only a win away from a second BBL title. If they

Jos Buttler, England’s white-ball captain, has admitted to “frustrations” that his team’s preparation for the defence of their 50-over World Cup title has been hampered by scheduling clashes ahead of this month’s tour of Bangladesh. However, Buttler insists there will be no consequences for those players who have made themselves unavailable for the tour –

Ireland will stage their final Super League series against Bangladesh in May at a venue in England to maximise their chances of World Cup qualification. Ireland’s hopes of finishing in the top eight of the Super League will rely on South Africa and Sri Lanka’s results against Netherlands and New Zealand respectively. But unless Sri

Andrew Strauss believes that the proliferation of T20 franchise tournaments could be a sign of the “democratisation” of world cricket, arguing that “no one, not even the BCCI, controls the game anymore”. Strauss, England’s former Ashes-winning captain who oversaw the ECB’s High Performance Review last year, warned his audience at the annual MCC Cowdrey Lecture

Usman Khawaja has been cleared to join the Australia squad in India after his visa was belatedly approved following a delay which meant he wasn’t able to leave with team-mates on Wednesday. Khawaja will now depart on Thursday and link up with the rest of the squad in Bengaluru where they are based for a

In Sydney, Vihari batted with a torn hamstring to save the Test for India in collaboration with R Ashwin. This time, he returned to bat after having gone off when he fractured his left forearm while trying to fend off an Avesh Khan bouncer. Not just that, when he came back, he batted left-handed, to

The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has revoked the suspension on Sandeep Lamichhane, paving the way for him to play in Nepal’s upcoming Cricket World Cup League 2 tri-series at home against Namibia and Scotland. Britant Khanal, the CAN general manager, told ESPNcricinfo that the decision to remove the suspension and allow Lamichhane to play

England will test the depth of their white-ball reserves as they prepare to announce a depleted squad for their of Bangladesh in March this week. A combination of scheduling conflicts, injuries and franchise commitments will likely see limited-overs coach Matthew Mott and captain Jos Buttler lead a mixed squad of established players, fringe talent and

Big picture: South Africa aiming for series sweep The series has been won, but it’s not quite mission accomplished for South Africa, who are a win away from getting up into the top eight of the World Cup Super League. Two clinical performances against the reigning world champions (albeit England’s crown has slipped a fair

Though India won the game on Sunday with a ball to spare, the wicket received criticism from India captain Hardik Pandya, who called it a “shocker of a pitch”. New Zealand were restricted to 99 for 8 in 20 overs and India had a hard time chasing the small target, winning in 19.5 overs. Spinners